of past friends, fear and false hope. the Wakefield Doctrine ‘it’s alright, you won’t be bothered by anything that might bother you’ | the Wakefield Doctrine of past friends, fear and false hope. the Wakefield Doctrine ‘it’s alright, you won’t be bothered by anything that might bother you’ | the Wakefield Doctrine

of past friends, fear and false hope. the Wakefield Doctrine ‘it’s alright, you won’t be bothered by anything that might bother you’

Welcome to Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

So what do you want to know?

That’s a pitcha of me and Bernadine. From a reception we were both at, back at the turn of the Millennium.

You know, the past few weeks we been on a pretty busy schedule here with new Posts every other day, a lot of new Readers and all while trying to learn how to do a ‘radio’ show. For whatever reason, it occurred to me this morning that  we might all be thinking this Doctrine thing is clever and interesting, insightful and funny and ‘hey-this-is-refreshingly-different’… well, maybe it is and maybe it isn’t.

Surprise Exam: Obviously the guy in the photo is a clark. Which of the three personality types is Bernadine? Is she a clark or a scott or a roger?  Experienced Readers would do well to caution the (newer) Readers from too much giggling and laughing in the metaphorical back of the allegorical class room  here today. This is more serious than you can know.
You might be thinking:  “oh! this is interesting! the writer is trying to change the tone of the narrative (of the Post). How amusing
and after reading that some of you (the rogers) may start to think: “yeah, great move  don’t overplay your hand, you’re not that good a blog writer
and after reading that, some of you (the scotts) might be sitting up: “cool! lets see how far he’s willing to push the Readers
and after all of this, some of you (the clarks) will be thinking: “too late to get out now, better guess the answer and hope to get it right

No: We are not going to tell you which of the 3 personality types Bernadine was* you are totally on your own.
Yes: We are serious about this being a test and an Exam and carrying consequences.
No: We don’t need to explain it further. If you get it you will understand it and if you don’t ..then you are still welcome to stop by, from time to time and see what we are up to here at the Wakefield Doctrine and maybe leave a Comment about the fun times we used to have… and if you find that thought a little sad or annoying or confusing or anything at all, then there might be hope for you after all!

Hey clarks! a little word in private?  We all know that you are the ones (of the 3 personality types) who stand to gain the most from this ‘theory’ of ‘personality’. You are also the ones (among the three personality types) who will ‘get it’ right away and, …and just so no one forgets what a perverse, potentially horrible, Jethro-centric place life can be, you are also the ones who will sense the natural resistance to change that controls us all. You ever find yourself  in a day when you feel that you finally got it figured out? The people in your day seem different, they are almost encouraging and you think to yourself  ‘finally! enough of that silly weird stuff! I can finally get some balance, the heck with the  eccentric shit. I could be happy being like this

…and then you walk into the bathroom at work/school/out-with-friends-at-the-mall, a little too quickly and too quietly and you hear, ” did you get a load of clark today? …god! if only he/she knew”

You know what feels worse than that?  …worse than the feeling when you find yourself not wanting to embarrass them by letting them know you heard what they said?
…if you are a clark  you do know what’s worse. We’re not going to say it here. You know it and I know it. Instead, I will say the thing that is even worse than that,  it’s the feeling that

…you are stuck.

But then again, there is one more step (isn’t there always, clark? lol) If you have made it this far, then there is ..not hope, not the offer of a way to think differently, something more akin to …an alternative view. But what do I know?  I’m just the guy who writes this stuff down and projects it out into a world, a world that seems to have a few other people who can identify with what we are saying here.

But it’s nearly Christmas Time and to prove that not all of us here at the Doctrine are totally out of touch with the mainstream culture,  lets listen to Jim Gaffigan tell us about Christmas (and all the other holidays).

 

*Bernadine died way, way too young. A few years after the photo was taken. She was articulate and funny, clever and insightful and actually made a significant contribution to the Wakefield Doctrine, in a way that I will not describe at this point, in this Post. Hey, I didn’t get to be the writer of the Doctrine blog by being stupid…at least not all the time.

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clarkscottroger About clarkscottroger
Well, what exactly do you want to know? Whether I am a clark or a scott or roger? If you have to ask, then you need to keep reading the Posts for two reasons: a)to get a clear enough understanding to be able to make the determination of which type I am and 2) to realize that by definition I am all three.* *which is true for you as well, all three...but mostly one

Comments

  1. I ma going with Bernadine being a Roger and being the lady predator, not sure why but just from your description and the picture that is what I get. Could be wrong, but just my opinion.

    • clarkscottroger clarkscottroger says:

      @Janine
      Thank you for that. Given the mood of the day and the value we place on both learning and the (individual’s) responsibility for learning, I will respond via IM in ‘the FaceBook’. Lets let the others step up and show the willingness to commit to an answer, instead of hanging back, all ‘well, I’m sure I know the answer, but I would rather see what others thing and give them…”

  2. Downspring#1 says:

    “there is one more step (isn’t there always, clark? lol)”

    Yes, yes there is always one more step because we clarks can usually come up with yet another way in which to look at/see a thing/situation/person, whatever, that no one else has thought to do. When others stop because they see an end (of the road), clarks will continue as if the road markers were made of an invisible material – invisible road marker lights. lol
    Why is this pertinent? Because. the Wakefield Doctrine allows us to know how a scott would assess a thing/situation/person in any given situation just as it allows us to know how a roger would react to the same situation. What an invaluable tool. If scotts and rogers were so inclined they would in turn know how a clark would react to the same thing and by virtue of that, clarks would not then seem so “strange”.

    A thought came to me today after reading this post. As Outsiders all, it would appear on face value that clarks could all get together and have their own unique “Outsider Club” but that would imply membership in a thing of uniformity and by our very nature we do not conform. Would we clarks therefore be non-conformists within and among our own ranks?
    Just havin’ a little fun with my rogerian and scottian friends. LOL (I’m thinking only the clarks made is this far to know I was just messin’ with folks:)

  3. Cyndi says:

    Awww…Bernadine seemed like a wonderful person! Umm..I would guess that she was a roger – my first instinct, anyways. Not entirely sure. She just “seems” rogerian. :)
    Fun post. I have to say you, too, are unselfish and genial. I’m so glad I have the priviledge of reading your blog and enlightening posts. :) Rock on, yo! :)

    • clarkscottroger clarkscottroger says:

      @Cyndi

      genial??! I’m sorry, was your computer monitor broken?? I was far in thought (in the photo)… but I appreciate the sentiment, (it’s ok for one clark to accuse another clark of being genial)
      hey Cyndi, you being a writer, any suggestions (simple ones, please) as to how to move ‘the story along’? the cool part is I am only concerning myself with what I know about the characters as a result of the Doctrine, the technical end of getting fictional characters into situations where they can demonstrate certain qualities is a little daunting.

  4. Jennifer says:

    @DS1

    You’re funny…. Hey what if all of you clarks *did* form a club? Wouldn’t that be a bit rogerian? lol

  5. Oh goodness, it feels like I’m back at school. Which one is the right answer? I’m going to go with Scott?

    • clarkscottroger clarkscottroger says:

      @Melanie

      Along with everyone, you have done quite well on a fairly difficult challenge, working from a photo, which in turn is limited in what can be seen (of the person in question).
      And in a day to day situation, it would be much easier, but the same process: discard the clearly not-likely possibility and then try one (of the 2 remaining) against each other. The correct type will become clear as you observe the person in different contexts.
      Everyone did quite well!